Chapter 501

On the day of the Space League match.

"Today's match is against 'Orcs'."

"Since we've met each team once, we're facing a previous opponent again."

The commentators were explaining about the opposing race 'Orcs' with relaxed faces.

"This was the team where we only needed to watch out for the Orc Great Chieftain, right?"

"According to what player Seong Jihan revealed before, the Orc Great Chieftain had the characteristic of absorbing the life force and strength of other Orcs."

"He would raise his hands to the sky as if receiving the power of ancestors, but was actually absorbing the power of his own race."

"The strategy to counter this has already been revealed, and our forces are prepared, so we can expect a victory."

"In the league rankings, humans are in 1st place while Orcs are in 12th!"

The commentators were generally optimistic about victory.

This sentiment was shared by the viewers watching the league match.

-Orcs… This should be an easy one lol

-For real, gotta secure that mid-tier and maintain the 1st place ranking.

-Maintain 1st place… Have we been chased that closely?

-Since Seong Jihan stepped back as an administrator, our daily point intake has drastically decreased… We might get overtaken by the World Tree Elves again at this rate.

-Yeah, we need to win today to keep the 1st place ranking.

Humanity was maintaining the 1st place ranking in the Space League.

However, this position wasn't as secure as it seemed.

The World Tree Elves, despite losing to humanity, had a far superior daily point acquisition rate.

They were rapidly closing the score gap.

When Seong Jihan was around, they had actually widened the gap.

But since he became an administrator, the 1st place position had become precarious.

So, today's match against Orcs was a must-win.

But then.

"Uh… Yoon Seah isn't on the player roster?!"

"Oh no, what's going on??"

"Even if the opponent is a mid-tier race, Yoon Seah is an essential force for us…"

"Ah, we just got word that due to a very important matter, she won't be participating in this match."

"But… what could be more important than the Space League?"

At the commentators' remarks after checking the human team roster,

The viewers began to stir.

-??

-What important matter?

-Seong Jihan won in the West Sea, so there shouldn't be any big issues, right?

-Seriously, what could be more important than the Space League

-It's not like 1st place is secure, she should be playing today to keep that 1st place spot. What's she doing, really?

-Well, I guess she might have reasons not to play… Can we win without Yoon Seah?

-Come on; it's not a national team game, it's the human representative team match. She absolutely has to show up. Are they joking?

-For real, and Yoon Seah's role in the team is no joke these days; she's like 0.5 Seong Jihan.

-Hey, 0.5 is an exaggeration. Let's say 0.3.

After Seong Jihan left the human representative team, Yoon Seah filled that void.

She had firmly established herself as humanity's ace by winning consecutive series MVPs in the Space League.

But now such a player was dropping out due to an 'important matter'.

"Huh? Seah's not playing?"

The Shadow Queen turned her head towards Seong Jiah while watching TV.

[She said she's busy.]

"What could she be busy with…? She only plays BattleNet, she's skipping the most important Space League?"

[Hmm… Seems like she's taking care of Jihan.]

"…Who's taking care of whom?"

When the Shadow Queen asked incredulously, Seong Jiah silently tapped her own face.

"Can she fix the broken face?"

[Looks like it. Seah can absorb the void.]

"Hmm… Then I guess that is more important. But couldn't she absorb it after playing the match?"

How long could a Space League match take?

To the Shadow Queen's reasonable question, Seong Jiah sighed.

[I know, right? I think she's become a bit… sensitive since Jihan almost died last time.]

"During the fight with Dongbang Sak?"

[Yeah. She became a Void Apostle then.]

The battle between Seong Jihan and Dongbang Sak in the West Sea.

When Seong Jihan's face was shattered by Dongbang Sak and he was being consumed by the void,

Yoon Seah, saying she couldn't just stand by, became Void Apostle before Seong Jiah could even try to stop her.

After Seong Jihan restored himself with the Golden Wheel, she even berated herself for becoming an Apostle unnecessarily, saying she should have listened to her uncle.

'…But now, she seems satisfied with being a Void Apostle again.'

Her daughter, smiling and saying she could now be of real help to her uncle.

After providing Seong Jihan with a training room, she stopped leveling up in BattleNet and locked herself in her room, meticulously checking the void on her face.

[I'm all for her helping Jihan, but she should do it while taking care of her own responsibilities… I'm worried she might become obsessed with being a Void Apostle at this rate.]

"Why? She can just keep being an Apostle."

[Then she'll keep being entangled with the void and become the owner of the Arena.]

"Wow. Is the Arena owner position reserved for her? I'm so jealous."

Crunch. Crunch.

The Shadow Queen expressed her pure envy while munching on snacks.

[…You think that's good?]

"Of course. The Arena owner is the top of the hierarchy in the void. Even stronger than most Great Constellations. The authority they hold is immense. If Seah's giving it up, I want to do it."

[You don't have the void aptitude.]

"Hah… I thought anyone could become the Arena owner, but it turns out you need a gift. The world is so unfair."

The Shadow Queen, who had been envying Yoon Seah,

Watched the Space League match progress and narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, humanity… looks like they're going to lose?"

[…Yeah. This happens right when Seah's absent.]

The human representative team, ranked 1st, with all members present except for Yoon Seah.

However, the flow of the game was turning unfavorable for humanity.

"Th-the Orc Great Chieftain. He won't fall. He's reviving again!"

"Ah. The Sword King clearly killed him, but how is he coming back to life?"

"Just like we saw before, our team subdued the other Orcs first… but this is strange. It's not working out like last time!"

The human representative team tried to subdue the opponent in the same way Seong Jihan had conquered Orcs, but

The game wasn't progressing as easily as they thought.

-No way… looks like we might lose?

-Why is this happening? Why can't they kill the rear Orcs?

-Somehow… the damage seems insufficient

-Come on, this is a bit much just because one player is missing;

The human representative team, unable to conquer the Orc Great Chieftain, was falling one by one.

"Ah, your husband fell too."

[Could you add 'ex' to that?]

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, if the Sword King is dead too… we've lost?"

The match between humanity and Orcs, which was expected to be an easy win,

Was going far from predictions from the very first game.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the void training room.

"Hey, I appreciate you removing the void, but…"

Seong Jihan frowned as he saw Yoon Seah enter the training room.

"Don't you have anything else to do? Why do you come here so often?"

"Come on~ This is the most important thing. But I'm still doing all my other tasks on time."

Yoon Seah, who would rush in to absorb it as soon as the void leaked from the cracks on his face.

Thanks to her real-time care, Seong Jihan's face had recovered significantly.

At this rate, he might not even need to use the Golden Wheel for sure.

'The big cracks will probably need to be healed at the World Tree again, but the small fissures have been treated a lot.'

The presence or absence of void on his face made a clear difference in recovery.

"Alright then, Uncle. I'll come back if more void leaks out~"

"I'm really fine now. Go do your own work."

"But this is my work?"

"Hey."

"Okay, okay! I'm going! Going!"

Swish. Swish.

With those final words, Yoon Seah waved her hand and left the training room.

Seong Jihan looked at where she had disappeared with a rather displeased expression.

'Considering the 5x speed difference between here and outside, she really seems to be coming here extremely often…'

And the way she appeared with perfect timing whenever void flowed from his face,

It almost seemed like real-time surveillance.

…Surely.

She wasn't actually doing that, right?

'This won't do. After I merge Blue and Martial Soul, I need to quickly remove that hat from her.'

At this rate, she might even try to become the Arena owner.

Seong Jihan worried about this as he started to seriously elevate Blue.

'It feels like it's about to work, but not quite.'

Dongbang Sak, who had been an unparalleled genius in BattleNet.

While Seong Jihan wasn't lacking in martial talent either, he couldn't compare to Dongbang Sak who had been like a 'bug'.

Thanks to his substitute training last time, Blue and Martial Soul had found many points of convergence, but,

The final touch to perfect it wasn't coming easily.

'The one good thing is that the red's distortion level hasn't been increasing lately.'

In the beginning, the red's distortion level had risen and fallen steeply.

But since the limit of Devil's Intrusion became 1500, this value hadn't changed.

If it had been skyrocketing, he would have felt more anxious.

It was somewhat fortunate that it stopped here.

'Did what I told the Messenger to relay have an effect?'

Or is the other side also at a standstill?

Whatever the reason,

It was fortunate that the red's distortion had stopped.

He should push forward quickly now.

Seong Jihan thought this as he resumed training, but,

'…Hah. I don't know.'

The unification of Blue and Martial Soul wasn't progressing as smoothly as he'd hoped.

Now that Dongbang Sak, who had spoon-fed him, was gone, the final step just wasn't coming together.

Seong Jihan tried various tests and then,

"…Maybe I should take a short break."

He sighed deeply and changed the training room's environment settings.

Since racking his brain alone wasn't yielding immediate results,

He decided to review previous battles while resting.

'I should watch Dongbang Sak's movements and review how he handled Blue.'

So Seong Jihan played back the battle he had fought with Dongbang Sak.

The battle footage he turned on without much expectation, just to rest,

Began to unfold within the training room as if he had entered a virtual reality.

'Well, old man. Your movements are still impressive even when I watch it again.'

As Seong Jihan was nodding while watching himself get sliced up,

[The characteristic of Heterogeneous Martial Comprehension is activating.]

"…Huh?"

Heterogeneous Martial Comprehension, which only activates when experiencing the powers of different species,

Started working here.

'Wait. Why is this… when it's just humans fighting each other.'

Heterogeneous Martial Resolve.

A characteristic that researches and absorbs the powers of different species to fit one's own.

It had become obsolete as he rose from player to administrator, with no more to absorb from ordinary heterogeneous powers,

But unexpectedly, it was activating while watching the battle with Dongbang Sak.

At first, Seong Jihan wondered why this was happening, but

'…Ah, is it because I'm no longer human as an administrator?'

He quickly realized why it had activated.

By becoming the Blue Administrator,

He had definitely left the human species category.

'This… There was definitely a way to amplify its effect even more.'

Seong Jihan's eyes lit up as he called up the system description for Heterogeneous Martial Comprehension.

[Heterogeneous Martial Comprehension]

-Researches and absorbs the martial arts and powers of different species to fit your own kind.

-As the Void ability value increases, the class correction effect grows larger, and efficiency increases further when training in the space of the hidden world.

Heterogeneous Martial Comprehension, which increases efficiency in the hidden world space, the void training room.

This also improved in effectiveness as the void increased.

Right.

To see a clear effect, void was needed.

'…I guess I'll have to rely on you a bit more. Seah.'

Seong Jihan smiled wryly and then,

Stab…!

He stabbed his sword back into his face that had just barely recovered.